


The One

by JeffrevinAO3



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:07:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27744235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JeffrevinAO3/pseuds/JeffrevinAO3
Summary: A decision is made on the Child.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 57





	The One

She looked on in silent wonder, watching from behind the stone.  
The child, Grogu, and the Mandalorian, knelt before him, praising his recent accomplishment.  
Mandalorians didn’t express many feelings, but this was certainly a time of firsts.  
A Force pull was all it took.

“He’s formed a strong attachment to you.”

It was peculiar, almost as if they were a family.  
A family.  
A thought flashed through her mind, as did the sound of a lightsaber cutting through the air.  
From their duel.

“I cannot train him.”

She maintained her composure, her focus, but her mind was elsewhere.  
Her mind was concentrated on another bond forged a long time ago, through chaos and carnage and fire.  
More than just Padawan and Master.  
The warrior turned and approached as she stepped forth.

“What? Why not? You’ve seen what he can do.”

She had expected this. Of course she had.  
Yet all the same, it was still difficult to explain.  
Her thoughts became one, one that she could easily speak without saying too much.  
It was as easy as the lessons that she had been taught.

“His attachment to you makes him vulnerable to his fears.”

The pause hung in the air.  
A blue blade swung through body after body. A red blade swung to meet two white ones.  
A sole yellow eye glowed with hatred, the visible skin showing the only remainder of who- or what- had been her Master.  
It tore through her.

“His anger.”

She didn’t want to know what had happened to him, but she had been forced to nonetheless.  
And when she had been forced to, she had no other choice.  
Her head had throbbed, her senses had ached, as the Dark ripped apart the Light.  
_Anakin._

“All the more reason to train him.”

He didn’t understand. Nobody ever could.  
It wasn’t their fault for believing otherwise, yet she knew there could be no accepting their proposition.  
She had lost too much. They had lost too much. They had all lost too much.  
She didn’t know what made her say it.

“No.”

She spoke the word, composed, her tone sharp and urgent, her mind still elsewhere as she stepped forward.  
The warrior stared, his helmet hiding his face, his expression, yet it didn’t stop her from looking right at him.  
At the person behind the mask.  
_I won’t leave you._

“I’ve seen what such feelings can do to a fully trained Jedi Knight.”

She couldn’t train him. She just couldn’t. Anything that would go wrong would be her fault.  
It would be her greatest failure. Like that of the Jedi before her. She couldn’t train him.  
Was that why she had said no?  
_Not this time._

“To the best of us.”

Anakin Skywalker was more than just a Jedi.  
He was passionate, he was impulsive, he was the Chosen One.  
And yet, in the end, he fell, just as any other great Jedi had.  
_Then you will die._

“I will not start this child down that path.”

**Author's Note:**

> So! Ahsoka made her first live action debut in Season 2, Episode 5, or Chapter 13 of The Mandalorian. Figured I'd do something, and wrote this up. It also provides some insight on her decision to not train Baby Yoda, something I completely didn't anticipate incorporating into the story, but then realized that not only was it there, but it made for an interesting introspective point of view from her perspective, so that's in the story.
> 
> I should point out that Ahsoka is letting her emotions determine her decisions here, as they did when she left the Order, and when she faced off against Vader on Malachor. And, man, the one line- "to the best of us"- you just know who she's talking about. She's been through the Clone Wars, the Rebellion, and when she finally gets presented with a real opportunity to change the fate of the galaxy, she doesn't take it, fearing that it'll mean repeating the past.
> 
> "The One" is referring to two things at once- first, Grogu, who is quite literally 'the one' remaining Force sensitive who has the potential to become a Jedi, and, second, of course, Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One who was prophesized to bring balance to the Force, trained Ahsoka, fell to the Dark Side, and ultimately ended up causing more torment and destruction as Darth Vader than Anakin Skywalker would ever want or do.
> 
> College has been fun-ish, though it's taken up a lot of my time. I'm squeezing in some work on my writing here and there, though this is the first one I've posted in a while, even if it's a short story. Odds are I'll have a burst of activity as we finish finals and decide what to do with the stories I have on here and those sitting in Google Docs as well, perhaps work on them.  
> Whoa, okay, when the notes take up a good fourth of the page, you know you should stop. Well, until next time!
> 
> "May the Force be with you."  
> Always.


End file.
